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A suicide bomber blew himself up near the Grand Mosque in Mecca as police disrupted a plot to target the holiest site in Islam just as the fasting month of Ramadan ends, Saudi security forces said Saturday. A suicide bomber blew himself up near the Grand Mosque in Mecca as police disrupted a plot to target the holiest site in Islam just as the fasting month of Ramadan ends, Saudi security forces said Saturday. The Interior Ministry said it launched a raid around Jiddah, as well as two areas in Mecca itself, including the Ajyad Al-Masafi neighborhood, located near the Grand Mosque. There, police said they engaged in a shootout at a three-story house with a suicide bomber, who blew himself up and caused the building to collapse. He was killed, while the blast wounded six foreigners and five members of security forces, according to the Interior Ministry's statement. Five others were arrested, including a woman, it said. Saudi state television aired footage after the raid Friday n...

If you’re looking to lose weight, get in shape and blast away the excess body fat, you should be drinking protein shakes. In fact, replacing one to two meals per day with a high-quality protein drink is one of the easiest ways to drop pounds fast. And, to make it even better, protein drinks are a natural, healthy way to decrease your body fat unlike those amphetamine based stimulant drugs your doctor might prescribe… You know the ones that come with a list of side effects as long as your arm, like headaches, dizziness, tremors, insomnia, diarrhea, constipation and even impotence. It’s amazing the risks people are willing to take to lose weight and feel better about themselves. Luckily, those are risks you can avoid when you turn to protein to help you meet your weight loss goals instead. Here are five ways replacing at least one meal per day with a protein shake can help you shed those extra pounds. 1 Curbs cravings Adding protein to your diet can help decreas...

Food rich in mineral salts include, green vegetables, onions, liver and eggs. Vitamins are a group of organic food substances which are needed in little quality for the health of the organism. We cannot be talking about the issue of Nutrition and health, if we don’t reckon with the mechanism that links the two in our body and we are talking about the mechanism of metabolism. Metabolism is simply the chemical processes in living things that turns food and its allied components into energy and materials for growth, which provide for new cells for the body. To explain it further from the professional perspective. “This word describes the numerous complex reactions which underlie energy production, growth and all the internal activities of the body, from the conduction of nerve impulses and the contraction of muscles to the transporting of oxygen through the blood and the secretion of hormones. These reactions are made possible by various vitamins and minerals which although...

The Senate has accused Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola of spreading wrong information about the 2017 budget. Spokesperson of the upper legislative chamber, Sabi Abdullahi, in a statement said Fashola did not give the public full details about the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. Sabi also said the Bureau of Public Procurement and the Federal Executive Council in 2013, approved the reconstruction, rehabilitation and expansion of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway as a Public-Private Partnership project, with the Federal Government providing about 30 percent of the funding. “Even as at last year, the 2016 Appropriation Act voted N40 billion for the project on the insistence of the Ministry and only N26 billion was released. If we had known, the rest N14 billion could have been allocated to other critical roads across the country”, he said. “In the spirit of consensus building and effective stakeholder engagement, the Leadership of the Senate met with key re...

Yemen is currently plagued with a severe cholera outbreak which UNICEF and the World Health Organisation has described as the worst ever outbreak in the World. With the death toll currently put at over 1,300 and over 200,000 suspected cases, the war-torn country grapples with the outbreak as many more are expected to die in the coming days. However, the UN health agency and UNICEF in a statement said it is doing everything to prevent further escalation. “We are now facing the worst cholera outbreak in the world. “In just two months, cholera has spread to almost every governorate of this war-torn country with an estimated 5,000 new cases every day. The spread of the disease is made worse as the country’s health, water and sanitation infrastructure have been on a constant decline following two long years of war. The war has left 18.8 million of Yemen’s 28 million people needing humanitarian assistance and almost seven million on the brink of famine. Hospita...

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has commenced issuing loans to farmers, manufacturers, cottage industries, among others, to boost local production in Anambra State. The bank, however, commended Anambra State governor, Chief Willie Obiano, for what he has done in the agricultural sector among other sections in the state. In its two-day seminar at the Prof Dora Akunyili Women’s Development Centre Awka, Anambra State, which ended yesterday, the leader of the team and acting director, corporate communications of the bank, Mr. Isaac Okoroafor, said it was the reason the federal government banned 41 items from being imported into the country. He said by 2018, Nigeria would become a net exporter of rice, with what was happening in states like Anambra, Ebonyi, Kebbi among others.

JUST like a thriller typically involving crime and mystery, the story of arrested Kidnap Kingpin, Chukwudumeje Onwuamadike, aka, Evans has remained captivating. Like a Hollywood movie with an exciting plot and phenomenal characters, the issue begets interesting and surprising angles each day. When you think Evans had narrated nearly all his escapades, more sensational and suspenseful narratives would emerge, producing new angles to the most intriguing criminal case in Nigeria’s recent history. Frankly, only the Lawrence Anini case of the 1980s could rival the Evans episode given that like the former, the latter was also the king of the underworld. Interestingly, the same kind of tragic flaw ended their respective episodes given that women were key to their downfall. At an exclusive encounter with SaturdayVanguard, during the week, Evans pondered on the events leading to his arrest and concluded that visiting his girlfriend, Amaka was the weakness that led to his fall. An unass...

FAMILIARITY not only breeds contempt, it also breeds a hotbed of opportunities for unfaithfulness. The more close-knit a crop of friends are, the wider the chances of swopping partners, albeit discreetly. Tope’s recent experience, however, took the cake when it comes to how far you can go in forgiving a friend who ‘snatched’ the partner you believed you could have married. A few of us were in a ‘no-party-this-weekend’ drinking and chin-waging session when she suddenly invited me to one of her friends’ house-warming party a few days away. I’d never heard her mention this particular friend and no wonder, because when I asked her who she was, Tope actually looked a bit pensive. “I’ll tell you all about her on the way but I need you to come with me for much needed support.” We’ve never stood for ceremonies when going out on the spur of the moment. As we nestled in the back seat of the car, Tope told me this friend, Cecilia,...

Senator Abubakar Danladi The Supreme Court has, Friday, sacked the Senator representing Taraba North in the Senate,  Abubakar Danladi and asked him to return all salaries he had collected before his sacking. Danladi was ordered to refund all salaries and allowances he received within 90 days. Mr. Danladi was sacked by the Supreme Court on the same day a member of the House of Representatives, Herman Hembe, was also sacked by the apex court. The court also declared Alhaji Shuaibu Isa Lau, as the senator to represent the constituency. Both Danladi and Isa Lau are members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. The Supreme Court also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the certificate issued to Danladi and issue a fresh certificate of return to Lau. The order was contained in the judgement of the court on the appeal filed by Lau. Lau had challenged the decision of the Court of Appeal that upturned his victory during the primar...

The ​N​aira ​on Thursday remained stable at N364 per dollar in the parallel market. ​There was no significant increase or decrease in the figure all week days. The stability was attributed to weak demand for dollar and increased supply due to dollar sale to bureaux de change by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN​). CBN had on Monday​ ​injected a total sum of $195m into the inter-bank forex market to meet the requests of customers in the various segments of the market. A breakdown of the intervention revealed that the Bank offered the sum of $100 million to authorized dealers interbank wholesale window, while it allocated the sum of $50 million to the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) window. The invisibles segment was allocated the sum of $45 million to meet the needs of those who applied for Forex to settle Business/Personal Travel Allowances, school tuition, and medicals, etc. Acting Director in charge of Corporate Communications, Isaac...

Congratulations! You’ve made it to your dirty thirties. But now that you’re soldiering your way toward middle age, quite a few young man behaviors just don’t cut it anymore. From endangering to downright embarrassing, here’s what you need to leave behind. 1. Eating Fast Food: Yeah, we know that that Big Mac can taste delicious and that the dollar menu is super tempting when you’re on a tight budget. But a tasty, inexpensive meal isn’t that tough to throw together. 2. Smoking: It looked cool and rebellious when you were 18 but now you seriously have to stamp out this stinky, unhealthy and expensive habit. Not only can cigarettes make you smell like an ashtray and discolor your teeth, but they’re also one of the leading causes of heart and lung disease. 3. Playing Video Games: Granted, games are quite diverse nowadays with the explosion of small indie publishers and smartphone apps. But there’s still no excuse for being hunched in front ...

The billionaire Kidnapper, Chukwudemeje George Onwuamadike, alias Evans, has stated that he is now a born again Christian, and now reads the book of Lamentations. Evans, who is currently being detained by Operatives of the Inspector General of Police’s Intelligence Response Team, IRT, said he had people on ground, monitoring the CCTV he installed in all his houses, and the monitors gave him daily reports on the identities of those venturing suspiciously close to his residence. He added that, he also personally carried out profiling of the CCTV footage, to ensure he was not being trailed by detectives. He also said all his precautions failed, because his time was up. He added: “I lived a simple life, although I had money. My neighbours thought that I was a Businessman. On the day I was arrested, I had this strange feeling. So I decided to stay indoors. I regret all my actions. As you can see, I am reading my Bible, particularly the book of Lamentations. I don’t kno...

•Agric Minister Ogbeh. Chief Audu Ogbeh, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the country will on June 29, export 72 tonnes of yam to Europe and the United States of America (USA). A statement by Dr Olukayode Oyeleye, the Special Assistant to the minister (Media), in Abuja on Thursday, said Ogbeh disclosed this at a meeting with members of the Committee on Nigeria Yam Export Programme. The minister said the flag off of the yam export would be done at the Apapa Port and would be exported in three containers at 24 tonnes each. According to him, one container will be exported to the United Kingdom while the other two will be taken to the U.S. The minister appealed to the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS) to reduce inspection charges on export produce to encourage more exporters and enable the country become competitive in the export market. “To make yam competitive, we will work on the packages and the right types of trucks to be used for ...

Nigeria’s Billionaire Kidnappers was caught with 2 high tech Phones a Thuraya Phone and a Vertu Phone. First up the thuraya Thuraya’s are satellite telephones, satellite phone, or satphone is a type of mobile phone that connects to orbiting satellites instead of terrestrial cell sites Making it very difficult to track. They provide similar functionality to terrestrial mobile telephones; voice, short messaging service and low-bandwidth internet access are supported through most systems. Now the Vertu Phone which costs over $10k for the cheapest model Continue to see in the next series of pages… 10. The Phone Is Made Of Gold & Its Screen Is Very Durable Not Only Is The Phone Made With Gold, If the phone ever hits the floor, it will surely survive the impact. Because Its 4.7-inch touchscreen is coated with a pricey sheet of sapphire crystal glass, making it nearly impossible to scratch. It can take anything short of a diamond to the screen and remain unscathed,...

Osteoporosis – bone weakening – threatens the health of about 44 million Americans. But research at the University of Surrey in England shows that, with the right foods, you can strengthen your bones at every meal. The diet you need to follow is to simply eat more fruits and vegetables. These foods contain potassium salts (bicarbonate and citrate) that support bone health. Consuming these items keeps your bones from breaking down quickly and weakening. They also keep your body from eliminating the calcium you need in your bones. “This means that excess acid is neutralized and bone mineral is preserved,” says researcher Helen Lambert. “Excess acid in the body, produced as a result of a typical Western diet high in animal and cereal protein, causes bones to weaken and fracture. Our study shows that these salts could prevent osteoporosis, as our results showed a decrease in bone resorption.” Your body continually breaks down (resorbs) and reconstruct...

Beyonce and Jay-Z welcomed a boy and a girl on 18 June. The couple also has a five-year-old daughter named Blue Ivy. Fans of Beyonce and Jay-Z have eagerly been waiting for the power couple to share the first photos of their newborn twins. While that might not be happening anytime soon, the names of the couple’s babies have reportedly been revealed. The couple also shares a five-year-old daughter named Blue Ivy. Media Takeout has claimed that the celebrity couple have named their boy and girl as Shawn Jr. and Bea Carter. “They had twins, the boy’s name is Shawn after his dad, and the girl’s name is Bea – after their parents,” a source told the celebrity news website. “The first couple is being EXTRA TIGHT LIPPED about their new twins – who are set to be released from the hospital ANY DAY NOW,” the report added. According to NameBerry.com, Shawn means “God is gracious”, and Bea means “she who brings happi...

…as gov declares he will run for presidency in 2019, says Buhari has failed Nigerians A pro-Fayose rally to signal the continuty agenda of Governor Ayodele Fayose in 2018 Thursday shut down Ado-Ekiti, capital city of Ekiti State. Women and men from all walks of life, artisans, civil servants, Okada riders, drivers, mechanics, market women, students, youths, old and young and even the crippled and others with several disabilities joined the governor to march through the capital city. They were clad in several campaign attires with had several inscriptions such as ‘Fayose leads, we follow, ‘, support continuity, 2018, Fayose witness and The mammoth crowd who displayed their voters’ cards, sang songs and danced profusely in the hot sun t in support of a man they believe in. The huge turn-out was as a result of an earlier successful grassroot mobilisation of the people ahead of the 2018 gubernatorial poll several months ago. The grassroot mobilisation, tagged O...

The petition to recall Sen. Dino Melaye has been submitted to the electoral body, INEC, by his constituents, Kogi West Senatorial District. The petitioners have gathered more than the 50.1 percent of signatures required to begin the process for recall. Over 188,500 or 52.3 percent of 360, 000 registered voters in the district endorsed the petition.  Leaders of the movement to kick out Dino from the Senate submitted the petition at INEC headquarters, Abuja yesterday. Coming under the umbrella of ‘Concerned Indigene of Kogi West’, they presented six bags of documents containing the signatures of the electorate from council six areas in the senatorial district. These are Ijimu, Kabba/Bunu; Lokoja; Yagba West; Yagba East; and Mopa/Moro. Chief Cornelius Olowo, the Spokesperson for the group, told journalists that the move to recall Dino was based on his poor performance since his election to the Senate 2015.   “Legislative performance is just on the floor,...

Breastfeeding benefits mothers Breastfeeding is not only healthy for babies, it may also reduce a mother’s risk of having a heart attack or stroke later in life. This is the conclusion of a  new study of 300,000 Chinese women published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association.. According to Xinhua, the Chinese news agency, women  who breastfed their babies had about a 10 percent lower risk of developing heart disease or stroke compared to those who did not. The study said  the longer mothers  breastfed, the greater effects they had. “The findings should encourage more widespread breastfeeding for the benefit of the mother as well as the child,” study co-author Zhengming Chen, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Oxford, said in a statement. “The study provides support for the World Health Organization’s recommendation that mothers should breastfeed their babies exclusively for their first si...

What does the food you eat have to do with how your brain functions? While we’ve always known that what we eat affects our bodies and how we look, scientists are also learning more and more that what we eat takes a toll on our brains. Yes, brain foods matter (especially for our gray matter). See, our bodies don’t like stress. Who actually does? When we’re stressed out — whether it’s physical, like someone jumps out at you from a dark alley, or mental, like you have a major project due at work — our bodies release inflammatory cytokines. These little chemicals prompt the immune system to kick in and fight back against the stress through inflammation, as though stress is an infection. But what does this all have to do with food? Our stomachs help keep our body’s immune responses and inflammation under control. Additionally, hormones released from the stomachs that enter the brain or are produced in the brain influence cognitive ability, like un...

Humanity has known cucumbers for more than six thousand years. The homeland of this species is considered to be subtropical and tropical areas of China and India. It is noteworthy that there are cucumbers which still grow in natural conditions where they are not specifically cultivated. Cucumber belongs to the same Cucurbitaceae plant family as squash, pumpkin, and watermelon. Like watermelon, cucumbers are made up of mostly 95 percent water, which means eating them on a hot sunny day can help you stay hydrated. Here are some of the Amazing benefits of Cucumber: Cucumbers protect your brain Cucumbers contain an anti-inflammatory flavonol called fisetin that appears to play an important role in brain health. In addition to improving your memory and protecting your nerve cells from age-related decline, fisetin has been found to prevent progressive memory and learning impairments in mice with Alzheimer’s disease. Supports your digestive health Cucumbers are rich in two of the ...

In a leaked chat between Tonto Dikeh and her mother-in-law, the actress revealed she paid for her own bride price. According to her, Quote “Thinking back and after talking to Bimbo Coker, it’s safe to say you are in on Kunle’s fraud and dirty lifestyle Flew your son, clothed him, gave him pocket money, helped him with every sweat in my body, you watched your son dupe me for all my hard earned money.  She went on to reveal even his ex-wife paid for her own wedding. “You disappoint me even Bimbo Coker paid for her own wedding and bride price. Is this a curse?“ This comes after Lara Olubo an OAP who is also a niece of Olakunle Churchill’s mother released a message between Tonto and her mother-in-law. Meanwhile, Churchill’s first wife Bimbo commented on Lara’s post saying that her ex-husband family are all liars. Quote “Smh, this people will never stop lying or even change from their evil ways… soon I know your can of ...

An additional batch of 175 Nigerians willingly came home from Libya on Tuesday via a Nouvelair aircraft with registration number TS-INA. According to the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, the aircraft arrived at 7:50PM at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. The Nigerians who returned were comprised of 34 males, 122 females, 10 children and 9 infants. The returnees were escorted back by the International Organisation for Migration, IOM, and the Nigerian Embassy in Libya. They were welcomed at the Hajj Camp area of the airport by officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, and the Police. Also present at the time of their arrival were officials of the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN. Air Commodore Paul Ohemu, Director, Search and Rescue, NEMA, said that the agency is working together with IOM to stop improper migration and retu...

With the constant pressure in the society to live beyond ones means and put up false appearances, veteran Nollywood actress, Joke Silva has a word to say concerning this issue. In a recent Instagram post, the multi-award winning thespian advised that people should desist from comparing themselves to others. She said: ”Don’t ever compare yourselves to others. You are not a copy but an original. Better your individuality and life because no one will do it for you. Don’t let anyone’s ignorance, hate and negativity stop or change you. Stop comparing yourselves to others….Aren’t you supposed to be unique? We are all unique. We are all special. We are wonderfully and fearfully made. Accept who you are. Be you” Photo credit: Instagram @ajokesilva

The Central Bank of Nigeria has finally stabilized the value of the greenback in the parallel market as the local economy recovers gradually.   The naira Tuesday remained stable at N364 per dollar in the parallel market. Vanguard survey revealed that the parallel market exchange rate closed at N364 per dollar yesterday, same level as on Monday. Also the Nigerian stock market on Tuesday maintained a bullish trend with the market capitalisation growing by N84 billion, lifted by gains from cement, breweries and beverages stocks. The market capitalisation grew by N84 billion or 0.71 per cent to close at N11.887 trillion as against N11.803 trillion achieved on Monday. Similarly, the All-Share Index rose to two-year of 34,375.60, appreciating by 240.50 points or 0.70 per cent compared to 34,135.10 recorded on Monday. Julius Berger recorded the highest price gain to lead the gainers’ pack, increasing by N4.04 to close at N43.84 per share. Dangote Cement followed with a gain of...